1st Place Winner 2010 WPJA/BRIDES Magazine Contest

I am very excited to announce that one of my images has taken 1st place in the ‘Bride’ category of the Fourth Annual Wedding Photojournalist Association/BRIDES magazine photo contest!

The WPJA is a membership-based international organization of photographers who specialize in documenting weddings in an unobtrusive style. Each year, the WPJA teams up with BRIDES magazine to hold a contest that spotlights exceptional images that were captured journalistically at weddings. I shot this image at Liz and Eduardo’s wedding in 2009 and I’m honored that it’s been recognized. One of the editors from BRIDES magazine contacted me and asked me to talk about the image, how it came about, and why I liked it. Here’s what I wrote:

“This image was taken before the ceremony at the church. The bride’s waiting/dressing room was at the very back of the church. There was a huge window in the room that looked out onto the congregation and was kept private by a curtain. As guests were arriving, Liz (the bride), kept peeking out of the curtain to see who was there. I saw her doing this from inside the room and I thought that if she did it again while I was outside of the room, it would make a great photo. Luckily, she did and I snapped one frame and this is it!

I love this image for so many reasons. First of all, for me, it really sums up the anticipation, nervousness, and excitement that you feel as a bride before your wedding ceremony. Liz and Eduardo chose not to see one another before the wedding, so all of those feelings were heightened. Most brides chose to not be seen by their guests before the wedding, and I love how this image also captures the inherent mystery and femininity that surrounds a bride on her wedding day. Compositionally, I love how clean this image is as well as the monochromatic colors. I also love how there is very little information in this image…just two fingers, part of a face, an eyeball, a curtain. However, even with very little info you can still discern that this is a woman appears to be hiding, but doesn’t appear scared, just curious.”

Below is my winning image and the judge’s comment. This image along with all of the other first place images from the contest will appear in the December 2010 issue of BRIDES magazine, which is in newsstands now. Please click here to see all of the winning images from the 2010 WPJA/BRIDES Magazine contest.

First Place | Catergory: Bride

Judges Comments: Nicely executed photo of the bride peeking from behind a curtain. I like the limited color palette and use of negative space. Only being able to see one eye and two fingers is effective in conveying a private moment. Another anticipatory image, this is such a simple, high impact frame, it belies the difficulty of getting it.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 12th, 2010 at 9:05 am. It is filed under awards and recognition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.